During this activity we learned what DNA is. It is the abbreviation of deoxyribonucleic acid. All living things have DNA present in there system. DNA looks like a twisted ladder. The ladder is known as a double helix. The two sides are called thebackbones and the inside “steps” are called bases. We created a DNA model using marshmallows, licorice and toothpicks. The marshmallows represent the bases. The licorice represents the backbone. The toothpicks represent the bond between the bases and the backbones. The green marshmallow represents guanine (G), the yellow is adenine (A), the pink is cytosine (C) and the orange is thymine (T). This activity improved our knowledge of DNA because it provided a visual that we could also manipulate. Constructing the DNA model step by step helped us understand each part of the double helix and why it was needed.

By Lauren and Colton